Erin and Matt on the summit of Mt. Lafayette
Our story begins 14 years ago when Matt and Erin were both in 9th grade at the Hollidaysburg Area Junior High. Erin had transferred to public school from years of Catholic schooling. When Matt first saw Erin, it was love at first sight, as well as one could define love to a fourteen year old. Unfortunately for Matt, Erin was quite shy and oblivious to his little crush and nothing came about it until the spring of their 10th grade year when they skied together with the ski club. By March, Matt asked Erin to go see the school play with him, and she agreed. The relationship lasted about two months when Erin dumped Matt, and that was that.
In February of 2006, Matt was headed down to Alabama to work the spring season at the McDowell Environmental Center. On his way down, he stopped in Fredericksburg, Virginia to visit Renee, his friend since high school and Erin’s cousin. When her grandmother was on her death bed, Matt drove Renee back to the Altoona Hospital so that she could be with her family and say goodbye to her grandma. Erin was present, too, and this time she developed a crush on Matt. Matt, however, was oblivious and continued on his way.
When he returned in June, he started hanging out with Erin. They played in the game lands behind her house, they went hiking at Canoe Creek, and they drove up to northern Pennsylvania to search for her lost horse who had run away from a breeding facility. It was then that Matt took the opportunity to tell Erin that everything would be alright, and then he kissed her. She kissed back. And thus begins the saga of Matt and Erin.
They were inseparable that summer, spending nearly every day together exploring the nooks and crannies of central Pennsylvania. When September came around, Matt was headed to Maine, starting a long period of a long-distance relationship. To make matters worse, Matt’s parents moved to southwestern Virginia, about 5 hours away from Hollidaysburg. And then Erin moved to Maryland. Matt worked in Maine for 4 months, then Illinois for 8 months, then back to Maine for 3 months, and finally he had a break and was able to spend some time with Erin in Hagerstown, Maryland. He eventually acquired a job in Luray, Virginia only an hour and a half away which allowed them to see each other more than once a month.
Erin and Matt had been together since the summer of 2006, through good times and bad, far apart for periods of times and too close together as well. So Last year, around their 3 year anniversary, Matt took Erin on an overnight hike on Mount Rogers. That morning, Matt pulled a ring out of his backpack and as they lay in the tent, he asked her to be his forever. She gleefully said yes.
The story continues on May 30, 2010.
Erin and Matt on Mount Rogers, the morning of the proposal.